Tuesday, June 14, 2011

It is Finished Indeed!

It is Finished! (John 19:30)

Our Lord Jesus uttered
this saying, the sixth saying on the Cross at Calvary, saying “It is Finished”. In this one word we have our glorious
redemption explained. Jesus’ fifth
saying on the cross was, “I thirst,” that one speaking of his humiliation, but
now in verse 30 we have the triumph of the cross. What was finished?

1. His
obedient life: In Philippians 2:8, Paul explains that Jesus, “Humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”. Here we see
that Christ had to live a perfect life for his sheep, we who are unrighteous people,
need righteousness to stand before God. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “I have
not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law”. This is glorious news for
sinners like us. Because of the Lord Jesus’ obedient life, perfectly obeying
the law of God, us sinners have Jesus’ righteousness credited to our account by
faith.

2. His
sufficient death: Not only did Jesus live that perfect life for us, he went to
that cross and died for us, he stood in our place. He satisfied the justice and
wrath of God for us! His death was sufficient because Jesus is God. He is
infinite, therefore his death is sufficient. Christ cried out, “It is finished”
because it was! Christ accomplished the great work of redemption for his
people.

3. Our
Sin: Because of Jesus’ life and death for us, our sin is gone! Our sin is
nailed to the cross with Christ and we bear it no more. Sure, we still sin, and we will have sin in
us till glorification, but the glorious news of the gospel is that our sin is
not counted against us, because Christ bore it. As the prophet Isaiah says, “The
Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 54:6).

So because of Jesus’ life and death our sin has been removed, and we can only marvel
at our Savior!